This study was prompted by the remarkable need for pastoral counselling for wounded Rwandese women. Many women that survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda had been widowed, raped and beaten, had cut their arms and legs, had been forced to kill their own children and were infected with HIV/AIDS during that time. They were emotionally, spiritually and physically wounded by the 1994 genocide. They do not have hope for tomorrow; they do not have peace in their minds because of what happened to them and to their beloved ones. In addition, some Christians left the church, saying that God is no longer there because more Rwandese died in the church than anywhere else, while thinking that it would be a safe place. The main question that this study aims to address, is: What pastoral guidelines can be given to wounded Rwandese women between the ages of 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide? In addressing this question, the study attempts to answer the following questions: • What pastoral guidelines does the Bible provide with regard to counselling wounded people in a situation of genocide? • What do secular literature indicate with regard to counselling in a case of genocide? • What impact did the genocide have on the Rwandese women between ages of 35-55 in Kibuye? • What pastoral guidelines may be given to the wounded person? The aim of this study is therefore to find and formulate pastoral guidelines that can be used in counselling the Rwandese women aged 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide. The study utilises Zerfass' model (1974:164-177) for Practical Theology. This method comprises the basic theory, the meta-theory and the praxis theory. Finally, the researcher utilises the Bible to formulate and propose some Biblical guidelines that would help wounded Rwandese women to cope with their wounds so that they may live a holy life even though their situation is bad. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This thesis addresses how government in Rwanda plays out in practice and how it affects lived experiences of state power and citizenship. Two decades after the genocide, Rwanda has come to be associated both with security, development, and stability, on the one hand, and with state repression and coercion, on the other. In 2007, a nationwide programme was launched to teach all Rwandans about the politically dominant vision of the model Rwandan citizen – an ideal that is today pursued through remote trainings camps, local village trainings, and everyday forms of government. The thesis is based on ten months of anthropological research in Rwanda, oriented around three ethnographic spaces: the life and workings of the Itorero training sites, the voices of two dozen Rwandans living in Kigali, and the daily government of a local neighbourhood in Kigali. The findings highlight how certain government practices in Rwanda engender in people experiences of being exposed to the state’s power and violent potential. As such, they represent an authoritarian mode of rule, reproduced through the way experiences of exposure guide everyday actions and behaviour vis-à-vis the state. The thesis starts from the Foucauldian assumption that all relations of power depend on the acceptance and agency of both those holding power and those who relate to themselves as their subjects. In Rwanda, the terms of acceptance are partly grounded in local social realities. Personal memories of mass violence, for example, justify for many the state’s tight social control. Such memories are also actively nurtured by the government itself, by associating the loosening of state control with the risk of renewed violence. Furthermore, in light of Rwanda’s attraction of foreign aid, authoritarian rule needs to be understood in relation to international terms of acceptance, which are embedded in liberal understandings of good, or at least good enough, governance.

Thesis (Postgraduate Certificate in Research Preparation (Humanities)--Macquarie University, Dept. of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, 2009. / This thesis presented as a partial fulfilment to the requirements for the Postgraduate Certificate in Research Preparation (Humanities). Bibliography: p. 47-55.

Zugl.: Heidelberg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2003. / Zsfassung in engl. Sprache.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1993--Mainz.

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. "October 2004." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-197).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. "October 2004." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-197).

Academics have for decades written on the need to interrogate the labels upon which the field of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has been founded. At the centre of these discussions has been theorising around the 'integrity' and 'content' of the refugee label itself, with foundational texts expounding the need to take nothing about the meaning and purpose of this label for granted. This is evidently important in popular accounts, where the term's misuse fuels anti-immigrant sentiments and societal mistrust, as well as for the futures of these populations, as multiple interpretations of their status affect attempts to negotiate durable solutions to their plight. Without denying the importance of these theoretical accounts, or the incredibly rich literature that has emerged on account of them, this thesis suggests that much of the theorising on labelling to date has lacked a clear theoretical framework around which to structure otherwise critical observations vis-à-vis the performative and malleable characteristics of language. It therefore introduces semiotic theories and methodologies as an approach for making sense of these manifold interpretations and their relationships to each other, and to explore what impacts this has on negotiations over refugees' futures. Associated theories are used to explain the controversial negotiations that surrounded the invocation of the Cessation Clause for Eritrean refugees in Sudan in 2002, and the ongoing attempts to apply Cessation to Rwandan refugees in Uganda. Both processes were mired by controversy, and yet almost no literature exists detailing when, why and how they unfolded as they did. Disaggregating the refugee 'label' through the semiotic frameworks provided by Saussure and Barthes helps explain the conceptual and spatial dissonance that plagued attempts to conclude these protracted refugee situations. Through doing so, this thesis seeks to make three main contributions. First, it provides these extended accounts of how decisions to apply Cessation are arrived at, thereby filling an empirical gap in literature on this process. Second, it presents a heuristic framework rooted in linguistic theories to explain how certain words and objects - including the refugee label - can see their meanings transformed and bourgeon over time, the mechanisms through which this distortion occurs and is accommodated within discussions over the treatment of refugees, and the implications that the application of this theoretical framework has for how we understand particular incidents of decision-making within the refugee regime. Third, these theoretical approaches are shown to result in key challenges to how the role, content and function of the word refugee have been conceptualised to date.

abstract: This thesis examines the 1994 Rwandan genocide with a specific emphasis on the rape of Tutsi women as a weapon of genocide. From the perspective of scholarship in trauma studies, an account of the conflict and colonialism leading up to the genocide is offered in order to demonstrate the historical making of the ground of collective trauma in Rwanda. Further, this thesis examines the discursive means of the perpetuation of collective trauma in the form of the Hutu demonization of Tutsi women. Shortcomings in the justice system emerging from the genocide are also discussed as a perpetuation of trauma. Finally, projects of justice and healing among Tutsi women are examined in an account of survival and resiliency. In conclusion, women that survived the genocide have navigated through societal and governmental systems to provide better lives for themselves, their families and the society. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2011

This study aims to interrogate the representations of forgiveness in post genocide Rwandan fiction. The novels analysed are Inyenzi: A story of Love and Genocide (2007), Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (2006) and God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation (2009). Inyenzi: A story of Love and Genocide represents romantic love as the possible beginning of reconciliation between the Tutsi and the Hutus after and the devastations of the genocide. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust reveals that the individualistic portrayal of forgiveness is important to create communication between antagonistic ethnic groups. God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation demonstrates that forgiveness and reconciliation have the possibilities of being attainable on a national level through political reforms. The narratives succeed in portraying the representations of forgiveness but due to the subjectivities of the authors, the historicity of the genocide is undermined thereby compromising the foundations for forgiveness. This study suggests that future research on post genocide Rwandan could analyse creative works on forgiveness but focussing on the issue of restorative justice / English Studies / M. A. (English Studies)